The Steal - Part 1
by Wikius
Summary: What would you do if your planet was threatened?


The Steal

By Freedom, Riley

Wynter acted tough. And he was, but that sort of confidence got beaten out of him during middle school. No, what Wynter was most successful at was studying. Two PhD's and a solid job at the observatory. Peckhs Observatory. Peckhs Observatory was a largely star oriented place. And yes, the occasional tourist came every now and then. Which was a treat. Wynter got to show them the different tools he used and both of his degrees. Of course Peckh, Hyde Peckh, was usually toying around with one of the two telescopes that they used. Well, one of them. The broken one. It broke a few years ago when they first opened the place. Well, Peckh thought that it broke, the results that they were getting back were preposterous. Wynter believed them, but he was only an intern. And not even a human one at that. Pftt. What idiot would believe him anyway? Situations had been smoothed out along the way, but not by much. By this point, Peckh can look Wynter in the face without scoffing or grinning. Peckh didn't seem like the person that really got out much. He was the kind of person that would stay inside all day and listen to StarCraft parodies while figuring out the inner workings of the universe. But he did get work done. Wynter thought- no, _knew, _that he did more. It had to be true. He greased and cleaned the telescopes, swept the floors, calculated the data coming in from the telescopes. He basically ran the place. But the place was called Peckhs so it had to stay that way. And boy it did. Every week Peckh would come into the Observatory- _After _Wynter – And brag about how he earned the place. The conversations going something like; "Hi Peckh." Then Peckh would reply something like, "Hey twig" and then go to sit down in front of the leisure computer. Wynter would mutter something under his breath and leave it alone. But not today. Oh no. Today, Wynter was going to quit. On the spot. And make Peckh drop his Dr Pepper laced coffee.

"Have fun at work today babe." Gil said to Wynter as he was walking out the door. Wynter let out a small nervous chuckle. GIl was Wynter's "Girlfriend" though everybody that knew them used that term very loosely. They were close but, they couldn't do anything that a typical couple could do. Most of their relationship was balanced on mutual trust and friendship.

"Oh, I'm sure I will."

On Wynters way to work, he rehearsed how he would tell Peckh that he was going to quit. He didn't want to be rude, but he didn't want to seem like a pushover. 'Hi Mr. Peckh. Yeah, that's how, get under his skin. Don't call him doctor. Yes okay that's a start.' But then he arrived at soon. _DAMNIT_! Whatever, Wynter said to himself. He can just improvise. That's what the professionals do. Yeah. Wynter opened the steel door to the observatory. But this time, Peckh was here before him. _Before him. _Okay something was up.

"Hey Wynter." Peckh said. This had to be the first time he had called Wynter by his name.

"H-hi Mr. Peckh" Wynter tried to follow up with is plan.

"I just wanted to apologize about the way I have been treating you lately."

"What?" Wynter was stopped in his tracks. What the hell? Sorry? This jackass has never been sorry for anything!

"I'm sorry for how I've been treating you. I realized what I was doing and I just wanted to say that you are worth as much as a human being.

Really? Peckh gestured for Wynter to hug him with the outstretched arms. Wynter walked towards Peckh and Peckh embraced him. But Wynter didn't return. He just stood there, trying to process what was going on. Peckh started giggling.

"What is it?"

"You God damn idiot." Peckh let go of Wynter. "Get to work twig."

Wynter had to think again. But he couldn't, because Peckh whacked him right across the face with his coffee cup. Wynter didn't say anything. He just simply nailed Peckh in the stomach, poured his coffee onto Peckhs computer, showed him his favorite finger, and drove away. Great. Wynter was jobless now.

**CHAPTER 1 **

Wynter did know other people besides Peckh and Gil. One of his closest friends was also human. But this one wasn't at total douche. His name was Scott. Scott was what he went by, and he liked it that way. It's better than any way that say, a birth certificate would suggest. Such as Scott J. Stalin. Ha, Wynter loved calling Scott by his last name. He couldn't now though, he needed someone to talk to about what had happened. And he knew that Scott would understand. He'd been friends with Wynter ever since fifth grade. He had to understand.

The streets were empty. It wasn't surprising though, it was Sunday, and all of the people were in church. There were only two churches in the city. After the re-build, there was only enough space for two of them. There were only two religions anyway, and one of them was just a theory. The other one was crazy. So were the people in this city though. It was good. Everyone got along, nobody fought over frivolous things, and no one judged. Well, except for Peckh, but that was a different story. Wynter arrives at Scott's house usually after a lengthy hour of driving. He didn't really live _close _to Wynter. It would have been easier if he had just gotten enough money from his job to get a new car. In fact, this car wasn't even his. It was Gils. About a month ago he had to take the subway everywhere. The car was faster, but it was old. Made in 2018, about when Harry Reid's term ended. That made this car quite a few years old. It only got about 500kpgGE. The top speed was about 400kmh, it was, eh. The newer cars could go twice that. 'What the hell, why won't she just buy a new car. Damn. No, we can't afford that

kind of thing, especially not right now. Oh God, I just quit my job. What am I going to do? What Wynter? You can't take a few hits. He just called you twig. Jesus. Maybe I should go back and beg for my job back'. Thoughts were racing through Wynters head. But they all ultimately ended up in one place. No. Don't go back to the jerk. Leave him alone. He'll have to find a new person to do the grunt work. _RING RIIING RING RIIING. _Wynters phone interrupted his train of thought. It was Gil. Oh god. Wynter couldn't answer it. What would he say? He left it ringing until he arrived at Scotts house. As he pulled into the driveway, he thought about the ramifications of this quitting his job thing. So much so that he ended up inside of Scotts closed garage_. _He could hear Scott scrambling inside of his house to see what that huge bang was. Wynter got out of his car and laid behind it.

"Jeebus! What the hell happened?!" Scott bolted out of his front door and saw Wynter laying on the ground, "Wynter?! Dafuq? What are _you _doing here? Are you okay?"

"Ehh. Sorry Scott. I don't know what happened."

Scott picked Wynter up. It wasn't hard, and Scott was pretty strong. He brought Wynter into his house. Scott's house was huge. He worked as an engineer and made loads of money. Literally, he made all of his money into one dollar bills and kept them in the basement. Once inside, he sat Wynter down on a chair and grabbed a couple cups of tea.

"Thanks Scott but you didn't have to."

"Oh no, its fine. I haven't seen you in a while. What's up?"

"I uh, I don't- you know when you don't have money?"

"No."

"Well, um. I lost my job."

Scott put down his tea, "Oh my god, what happened?"

"Well um, the people at work weren't cooperating."

"Those racist bastards. What did they do? I'm gonna walk over there myself and shut down the godforsaken Observatory."

"Well…"

"What?"

"I quit."

Scott didn't say anything. He just sat there and sighed.

"I'm sorry" Wynter said, trying to save the conversation, "Hyde just kept calling me twig!"

"Wynter," Scott started lecturing him, "Hyde _likes _you."

This time Wynter put town his tea. "What?"

"I've talked to him. He's one of my clients. I worked on his Observatory when it first opened."

"I'm sorry, maybe you didn't hear me the first time, what?"

"The only reason he makes fun of you is because he sees you a friend."

"You're kidding. The guy thinks i'm lesser than him!"

"HE'S JOKING."

Wynter got up from his seat. "I'm going to apologize then."

Scott grabbed his arm, "No, you can't. Peckhs got no tolerance for that. Just let him cool off first."

Wynter sat back down. "Fine."

Scott raised his eyebrows and looked at Wynter. "Aww, it's okay Wynter, you have two degrees. You'll find a job soon. And hey, if you don't, you could work with me for a while."

"No. It's fine. I just wanna get this off my mind. You have a television, right?"

Scott grabbed a remote on the coffee table. And pressed the foremost button. A slot opened up in his ceiling and the T.V came sliding down. It flashed on and the first channel was the news. "President Hammond has announced that he will be harvesting the pure energy from the stars in the universe.'

"Oh cool." Scott said.

The news reporter continued. "The first star to be harvested will be HIP 47741, which is currently the farthest star from Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. According to the experts, all Avemites have evacuated their solar system. The first detonation will take place in three weeks."

"Huh, hey Wynter, you're an Avemite right?"

Wynter crossed his arms and glared at Scott. "Yes."

"What?"

"That's my solar system. The blast will destroy Avem."

"What's Avem?"

"Really? It's where i'm from."

"So, what's the big deal?"

"There are like, three other planets with life in that solar system."

"They said they all evacuated."

"No. I'm not so sure that this report is legit. The government here isn't very informative."

"What, so are you saying they they didn't the Avemites about the plan?"

"Well, yes. Basically. They haven't told me things before, why would they bother to tell an entire planet?"

"Whatever, it's their fault."

Wynter frowned, "Why, tell me why. Tell me why it's their fault."

Scott shrugged and said, "Well, they should leave. The solar systems about to blow up and we have plenty of space here."

"Tell me, Scott, has Earth ever been threatened?"

"Well…"

"C'mon."

"No."

"See. You can't just go around and destroy people's homes because you need _stars_. Find an unpopulated star or something!"

"Why are you talking to me like I'm the one launching the satellite?"

Wynters tone became less severe, "You're right. Sorry. But I can't—this can't be…"

"Look, Wynter, there is nothing that you or anybody can do about this. Leave it alone. Whatever happens, happens."

"Yeah, whatever seems to be your whole opinion on this matter, 'oh, _whatever _it's fine if a whole star system blows up, _whatever, _at last it's not _mine.' _That's how you make _enemies _Scott. That's why you're so oblivious to the serious problems across the galaxy. Because _"whatever happens," _becomes the motto. I don't want to be that one guy who sticks with the humans after the Avem system is destroyed. Nor do I want to participate in a war against you.I don't want to leave. But if you just," Wynter threw his arms up, "Sit there and say _whatever! _Then I'm going to have to leave. Forever. Because I know that once that star is gone," he made a fist and waved it in the air, "Once it's gone…"

Scott got up, "It's fine Wynter, just. Well. I don't know _what _I can do. And I'm not sure you know either. You're just confused. You're not from here. It's not a big deal."

"The hell? Not from here? What the hell does that have to do with this?" Wynter's voice was calm but his temper was getting worse. He kicked the coffee table and then held his foot in his hand, "AH, GODAMNIT." He tried to limp out of Scott's house but tripped over himself and lie on the floor with is knees drawn up to his face. "Wynter I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Scott scurried over to Wynter and keeled down. "Its fine, it's fine. Do you want to stay here for the night?" Wynter was crying. "Y-y-yes." He continued crying, "I just don't know what to tell Gil, I don't want to kill her. I don't want to do this." Scott scooped Wynter up from the floor. "It's okay, it's okay." Scott tried to calm him down. Wynter continued to pour out his feelings while Scott got him ready for bed. "Could you tuck me in daddy?" Wynter was tired and was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Um, sure Wynter, let me just." Scott pulled the blanket up to Wynters face while awkwardly trying to avoid touching him. He finished it off by patting him on the chest and leaving Wynters bedside. Scotts bed of course, but Wynters side. "Goodnight, I love you." Scott shut the door and locked it.

. . .

Wynter was greeted with a blaring alarm in the morning. It was Scotts.

"Oh Jesus, where am I?" Wynter sat up, looked around Scott's room and got out of bed. "Scott, what happened last night?" Scott was in the kitchen, making coffee. "Oh hi Wynter!"

"What happened last night, I feel all woozy."

"Oh, uh, I put sedative in your drink. I guess it does crazy stuff to Avemites. You mood swung all over the place."

"Damnit Scott." Wynter said, "Why did you do that?"

"Well, I kind of knew that they were going to uh, detonate Gliese before you came over. I was really hoping that you would come over and watch T.V."

Scott pulled the coffee pitcher out of the coffee maker and poured two cups for himself and Wynter, then went to the table and pulled out his chair and a chair for Wynter. Wynter sat down and took a sip of his coffee. Scott raised an eyebrow and looked at Wynter. What was going on in that big head of his? Why does he seem so timid about what's going to happen? Was it just he drugs talking last night? Or was he just suppressing his emotions and releasing them later without telling anybody and get himself in trouble like he always does. That was it, Scott was sure of it. As soon as Wynter left his house, he would take of in his rocket or something and escort every single Avemite and human off of Avem and the surrounding planets, Xenon, after the element, and Razz, after Razzmatazz. Scott wanted to know, so he asked Wynter himself, "So, what do you think of doing today?" Wynter looked up at Scott from his coffee cup, "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean 'what do you mean'? I just wanted to know what you were doing."

"I have nothing planned for today."

"Oh, okay, cool." Scott got out of his seat and went to his front door to grab today's paper.

"So, you know that rocket I have?" Wynter said as Scott went to get the newspaper. Scott almost dropped his coffee. "No."

"'No' what?"

"No, you are not going to _tell _them are you?"

Wynter leaned back in his chair as if there was a gust of wind blowing in his direction. "Naaaw, I just wanted to know if you could, you know, spiff it up a little so I could get it out of the atmosphere you know." Wynter said. "No, I don't know Wynter. You can't just go and risk your life like that. If they see an unidentified spacecraft trying to exit the atmosphere at a time like this, they're gonna shoot. That's it. No questions asked. Believe me, I used to work in the Navy remember? Back in the old days about eight years ago when we served together? You remember that right?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course I do. That was fun—ish?" Wynter scrunched up his face.

Scott paused, "Do you really want to do this Wynter?"

"Yes." Wynter answered with no hesitation.

"Do you know the full repercussions that this will cause?"

Wynter looked off to the side then looked back at Scott, "Yes."

"Okay then I guess we're going to have to do this then."

"Really?" Wynter asked, as if he was a child asking for a whole dollar.

Scott shrugged. Wynter scrambled out of his seat and hugged him. He let go and said, "I'll go get my Rocket and my stuff! Scott put his hands on his hips and watched as Wynter gathered his stuff, realized that Gil had to go to work today, and ran out the door.

**CHAPTER 2 **

Wynter arrived home and shut the door behind him. Gil was standing in the kitchen doorway with her arm crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently. "Where the bloody hell have you been?" Wynter tried to reply, "Toilet."

"For a day and a half?!"

"Well, I had to go _really _bad."

"Damnit Wynter that was a test. Scott called me last night and told me that you had quit and was crashing at his house.

"Did he now?" Wynter's jaw was clenched. 'Why would you Scott? Why? I didn't go home for a reason. Jesus!' He thought to himself. Now Gil was going to sit him down for about three hours and lecture him about the ethics of relationships and such. Three hours is long, no matter what people thought. Just because the days are longer on Avem doesn't mean that the hours felt shorter to Wynter. It was the same amount of time all the way. And then, of course, she would somehow get him to tell her that he wants to go stop this thing. However, maybe she's not heard of it yet. Hopefully.

"Now Wynter. There's something I need to talk to you about, and it has something to do with Scott." Oh god here it comes. The talk. Gil continued, "Oh Wynter, what you're about to do. I can't let you just go out and kill yourself like that. Do you even know how you're going to get rid of this thing?" She sat them down on their couch.

Wynter was twiddling his thumbs and looking at the ground. "Well, um, I was thinking that I could, um go to the, um white house and um, asking them if they could, um, maybe get rid of another, uh, star maybe. I mean I was just going to try to do that and I uh, if they didn't, then uh-"

"Then you what? Go over to the satellite yourself and steer it away?" Gil said, accusingly.

"Well, yes, I mean, I have the-"Wynter stopped himself.

"You have the what? Oh god, not the rocket. Wynter please. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you're not trying to pilot that thing back home."

Wynter looked at Gil, and their eyes almost met. But not quite. Wynter closed his eyes and looked away. "Scott says that he's going to fix it. Scott's an engineer, he'll do a good job, I know he will." Wynter got up from the couch. "I'm gonna go get some noodles, do you want some noodles Gil?"

"No, Wynter, I want you to tell me that you're stopping at this atmosphere!"

"Okay, I won't leave the atmosphere."

"_Earth's _atmosphere."

Wynter was quiet. His back was turned to Gil as he was over the stove.

"Jesus Wynter! You're so damn stubborn. I'm starting to think that you never should have come here in the first place!"

Wynter jaw dropped. He stood straight up from the stove, and then quickly and almost robotically turned around. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He stood there, with the warm smile Avemites always awkwardly wear.

"Well?" He managed to squeeze out

"Well what?"

'Well' was the only thing that Wynter could say. What else _is _there to say? After someone you love tells you they wish you never existed in their life. _Go away she said_. _Fine, just leave you're not welcome here anyway! _Wynter calmly turned off the stove and left the kitchen. Gil watched as he walked past her, up the stairs, and into their room. He shut the door loudly, and Gil could hear rustling. She heard the door open and saw Wynter walk down the stairs with a half-closed briefcase in his left hand. Wynter fumbled with the front door and opened it, then got in Gils car and drove away. He was driving to Peckhs, to apologize. And to ask for help with this new thing that he was going to do. He was certain that he would be able to leave Earth within the next two days. And the only way he could do that is by getting his rocket fixed and getting military clearance. He was sure that he could get clearance if he just got to talk to Peckh to get maybe some sort of certificate so he could leave on a scientific mission or something like that to authorize him. As he drove to the Observatory, Wynter reminisced on what he had just done. _No, it was Gils fault. She wants you gone, you should just leave. Get out of here you useless pile of nothing!_ FINE! Wynters foot pushed harder on the gas pedal, propelling the car down the street even faster than before. He needed to get to Peckhs before his emotions got the best of him. And for a second, just a second, he pondered the idea of going back to Gil. But it quickly passed. He tried to flick it away faster, as if it were a fly buzzing around in his head, taunted his every action. _You idiot. You goddamn idiot. What the hell? 'Oh look at me I'm Wynter, I can do whatever I want, whenever! Girlfriend gets mad at me for not telling her I was at my friend's house because I lost my job? Let's lash back out at her. _Wynter slammed on the brake pedal. _Go back home. _No, he's come this far. He can't. _But why would you leave these people that you love for something that you only have a premise of. _No, go. You're saving a species. A whole species, don't just sit on your ass, get up and do something. _But is it worth it? Is it worth your family and friends? What's Gil going to think of you once you're __**dead**__? _Family, what family? Wynter has _none_. They abandoned you at birth. Nobody will care when you die. You live a miserable life, just go. Do something useful for once. Wynter resumed driving. He was determined to do this. Let's go, out the door, into Peckhs. Wynter parked in the two-space parking lot outside of Peckhs and got out of his car. He leaned over his car for a while, still thinking. Always thinking this one. He finally built up the courage to storm in their politely like a sir. Wynter walked up to the small metal door that seemed to be riveted to itself. Peckh was inside, inspecting the broken telescope. Wynter tried to get Peckhs attention, "Hey, uh, Dr. Peckh?" Peckh looked up from the telescope and was surprisingly not dreading hearing Wynter's voice.

"Ah, hello Dr. Wynter, how are you this morning?"

"Um, why are you calling me 'Dr.?'"

"Because we don't work together anymore Wynter. I can't call you twig anymore."

Wynter gulped, "Oh, yeah, he he," He laughed nervously, "About that," He scratched the back of his head, "Could I, uh, have my job back?"

"No." Peckh replied bluntly

"Um, okay, uh, could I, uh, get a, uh."

"A certificate to leave the atmosphere under scientific reasons?"

"Yes, how'd you know?"

"Your honey boo boo told me before you came over here. She said that you probably went over to my observatory to get ahold of the certificate that stated that you had business up there." Peckh pointed to the sky.

"So, is the answer yes?" Wynters eyebrows raised

"Unfortunately, no." His eyebrows dropped back down.

"Why not?"

"Because you need a legit reason to leave. All you have is that the planet is being threatened. And the government is not going to help you stop the government."

"Okay then, let's find a reason."

"Like what. In case you haven't noticed, there's like, a weeks' time before your friends are all kerploded."

"What about the things that the telescope first read when I first started working here as an intern."

"We're gonna have to work on it for a while though. We need to provide evidence. And I'm not even sure if this thing you're talking about is even a correct reading. If we start, we're gonna have to start now."

"Okay then. Let's get started."

"Okay, let's go!"

"Wait." Wynter said, "Does this mean that I'm back on the job?"

Peckh shrugged, "Yeah, I guess…"

Wynter jumped into Peckh and hugged him, "YES! Let's get to work!" He scurried over to the computer he used to work on and started working.

**CHAPTER 3 **

"Hey, are you sure you can't get me some sort of certificate or something. I don't want to do all this."

"No. Wynter, really? You have to do work sometimes twig!"

Wynter rolled his eyes "uuuuuugh, come on, I don't even know how to work this telescope anymore."

"Well…" Peckh thought out loud.

"Well?"

"Well, there might be _someone _that could get you into space."

"Really!?" Wynter turned sat backwards in his chair.

"Yeah actually, yeah, I'm quite sure he would be able to get you into space."

"Well, stop stalling, tell me his name!"

"Okay okay, sorry." Peckh put up his hands as if to defend himself, "His name is Agent Frog and—oh boy." Peckh started laughing, "I used to call him that when we were still friends. His actual name is David. Well, David Atticus. He, as far as I know, is a government agent. Though he's a little like an Avemite on Valium, no offence Wynter." Wynter shook his head, "None taken." Peckh continued, "Anyway, last time I saw him, he was in the space program, but like I said, he's a little bi-polar. I could call him right now if you want."

"Yes, of course. Please do."

Peckh slid his iPhone out of his pocket, tapped it a couple times, and then brought it up to his ear. Wynter watched hopefully as Peckhs conversation with David begun.

"Hey! Dave! How are you? Still striding down the street with that leather jacket are you? Oh…oh…okay. Hey, could you come over to, uh, I have an observatory, and, uh. Yes. Yes. He- no. It's on H5, okay, okay, see you then. Alright. Bye." Peckh tapped his phone and put it back in his pocket. "Okay!" He clapped his hands together. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

"YES!" Wynter whirled around on his chair back to his computer screen. Peckh did the same. But it came back for Wynter. The stress. The pure stress that made him sink inside. The kind of stress that completely immobilizes you. Wynter sat there, looking at the screen, not moving or even darting his eyes, just staring blankly. _Why am I doing this? Who is this 'David' guy? Is he really going to help or is he just going to be a jerk? Peckh said he wears a leather jacket. No, stop it Wynter that's stereotyping. Just like all Avemites are super thin. Yeah, you don't like that do you. Oh my god, what am I even doing here. I should be at home with Gil, what the Avemites do is not my problem. _Don't say that Wynter, you've still got a chance. This David guy will be here any minute. Besides, how are you going to back out of this now? _Well I could-. _Shut up! Get ahold of yourself! Get back to work. "Oh hey, Wynter come over here. Dave's just arrived!" _Crap. Idiot, now what are you going to say?_ Wynter got out of his chair to greet David. To his surprise, David was an Avemite. He didn't have to two antennae-like things that Wynter had, he was wearing a cloth coat and he looked very sad. He made a small wave to Wynter. Wynter waved back. As Wynter got face to face with David, he saw that his complexion wasn't as warm as his own. His mouth was more in a frown and he looked very concerned about something. Most likely the paper in his hand. It was made out of poster paper and was made to be hung up on walls. Peckh looked down at the paper that David was holding in his hand. "Oh, that must be the poster that you were talking about." Peckh held out his hand for David to hand the poster to him. David handed Peckh the poster and Peckh brought it up to his face to look at it. Wynter leaned in to see what it was. It seemed to be purposefully printed on a piece of college ruled paper, and featured an Avemite scribbled down frantically on the paper to make seem like it was drawn by a frightened child. The Avemite was bearing his teeth, and seemed to be laughing sinisterly. There was bold red text above that read, 'BEWARE THE AVEMITES, What's Hiding behind That Sinister Grin?' David spoke to Wynter, "I found this in a subway station about four miles north from here. It seems to be from one of the churches."

"It's a _physical _trait! We can't help it! Besides, it's just a straight face on Avem!" Wynter said.

"I know, but that's the point, they want us gone, look." David turned the poster around. On the back, it said 'You're not _from here_.' in bold print. Wynter stared at it in disbelief. Which church? Ah yes, the Angorists. Always against those bizarre premises of something different. They were always on the grounds that whatever Earth was like ten or so years ago, is what it should be like now. A few presidents were Angorists. But they weren't around when the Avemites migrated from their planet. Mostly because Avemites demanded rights before they migrated, and the world wasn't just going to take everything back when they got there. Avem was overpopulated, and the only place that would accept them was Earth. Good old Earth, great planet. Full of friendly life. Ideal for such hardened Avemites, having an environment that's not trying to kill them constantly, and some animals besides just the Avemites. David was staring at Wynter with his head cocked to one side, squinting. "Why's he just looking off into space?" David said. "Oh, he does that. I like to think that he just is thinking about the universe. At least I hope so, we might have to take him to the hospital otherwise." Peckh said, as he let out a nervous puff of air. "Wynter!" David snapped his fingers in front of Wynter's face. Wynter looked back at David and Peckh.

"Sorry, I just got a little carried away."

"It's fine, just try to come back down from spaceland okay. We need to get things done, okay? Just concentrate."

"Yeah, yeah. Right." Wynter said as he turned towards David, who had now set himself down in Peckhs chair. "So David who are you? Peckh seemed to be very eager to introduce you to me. So whats the deal?"

Peckh answered for him, "He was my friend in college. I have known him for quite a while, and we wanted to go into work together, but we each took different paths. I was disappointed, but pressuring him to come work with me wasn't what I wanted to do. ANd I have to be honest Wynter, but, thats why I was so connected with you. You kind of reminded me of him." Wynter turned to David, looking for confirmation. David nodded. He had his hand on the keyboard of Davids computer. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything, it's nothing. Not anything important anyway." He quickly closed the open window and tried to shut the monitor like a laptop. It clattered to the floor with a crack and a thump. Peckh stared at David for a while before walking out of his own Observatory. David had a nervous grin on his face. Oh wait. Never mind. Wynter followed Peckh out of the Observatory. He watched as Peckh went to the back of his car and leaned over it. _What is he doing_? Peckh started to moan loudly. Wynter gestured toward the entrance door. The observatory was gleaming in the sunlight, it was noon, and the sun shone its brilliant rays down on Earth. That always was nice. _It was never too bright here_, Wynter thought. The sun on Avem is so damn bright compared to here. It was red and huge and to close and so was the population on Avem. Well, Wynter had only been there twice. Once when he was 12, and the second time just recently, about two years ago, when he was 29. It was for a year though. In a foreign language class.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No no, just stay where you are." Peckh turned around to face Wynter. "I remember what broke us up. Jesus David was clumsy. He broke his foot on a merry-go-round when he was 14. Even while he had those" He pointed to Wynter's boots "Boots of your guys' on. Dual Fracture, the doctor said. He was in a cast for months. I dunno, I guess it's just different here."

"Yeah, it is. Gravity on Avem is much less than it is here. About half I think."

"Wait, you don't sound sure?"

"I never have lived on Avem. I visited a couple times, but I wasn't even born there."

"Then where were you born? Earth?

"No, spacecraft. On the way to Earth though."

"But the, ehhh" Peckh's words turned to gibberish as he pointed to Wynters boots again.

Wynter shrugged and said "Well, I spent the first three years of my life of that ship. The first month I was here, I was whisked off to kindergarten."

"But there is no gravity in space, you wouldn't even have a normal skeletal structure right now!"

"Ah, good ol' simulated gravity. It was only about half of Avems though. It the time, our technology wasn't that advanced. I was always more interested in vintage _human _technology. I even have a few vinyl records and cassettes at my house."

"Excuse me?"

"I will show you them sometime. Let's do this later. C'mon, let's go back inside so we can talk to David shall we?"

Wynter walked inside of the Observatory and Peckh followed distantly. David was cleaning up the various pieces of glass and metal that shaved off of the computer monitor. "Sorry about your monitor Peckh."

Peckh closed his eyes and placed his palm on his face. "That was an all in one David."

"What does that mean?" Wynter went to David and whispered what it was in his ear.

"Oh, oops." David said, bringing his head up "Shit"

**CHAPTER 4 **

Wynter paced around inside, trying to figure the broken telescope out. Every so often he would go to it and fiddle with it for a while before returning to his pacing again. The spot on the telescope remained in the same place while the sky seemed to rotate around it. And it grew smaller and smaller each passing day. Wynter fiddled with it more in an effort to make it shrink faster, but it never did. Day after day passed, the spot got smaller and smaller, and the tension to leave this planet got more and more unbearable. Wynter stayed at the Observatory overnight without David and Peckh as they decided to call it quits at the end of each day. Wynter's eyes started to twitch, and his work became but a mess of squiggles and points on multicolored graphs. The idle grin on his face slowly curling into a frown. Skipping most meals and not taking a break to go to the bathroom.

"Wynter please, just stop okay, take a break please. I'm sorry."

Wynter didn't look up from his computer. "Whyareyousorryyoudidn'tdoanything."He said.

"Wynter, turn around."

Wynter slowly turned around. His left pupil was completely dilated, and he was biting his lip. It took him a second to realize that it was Gil."Gi-l" He choked on his spit, "I-I'm". Gil shook her head and hugged Wynter. "You're a mess. Now, what do you need help with."

"H-help-p?" Wynter was shaking. "I -nee-d- hel-p-p."

Peckh started laughing. Gil glared at him.

"We need to go home Wynter."

Wynter started to whine.

"No we need to go home."

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?"  
"Come on."

GIl grabbed his chair and dragged him out of the Observatory.

"So you really want to do this huh? You really want to try and stop them? Why did I have to talk to you? This is wat happens when I talk to people, they die."

"J-e-s-e-eus G-gil." Wynter was shivering.

"Jesus is right." She said as she stuffed Wynter into the backseat of their car and got into the drivers seat.

"G-W-Wher-going?"

"Home Wynter, we're going home. You can do this in the morning, once we know that you're going to survive."

"Oh." He seemed jaded, then he passed out.

"Yeah, called it."

…

Gil tucked Wynter in tightly into his sheets, being careful not to wake him. His grin had returned, and every so often he would moan in satisfaction or distaste. She stroked Wynter's face. "What am I going to do with you?"

CHAPTER 5

"Why do I keep waking up in strange places that I don't remember being at." Wynter said, walking down the stairs, rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess you're just that kind of guy Wynter." Peckh said.

Wynter started to run down the stairs halfway down. "Peckh?" He sounded worried. "Gil!? Why'd you let Peckh in?!"

"It's not just him."

"What?! David too!?"

"What? Why are you so distressed?" Scott said.

Wynter calmed down a little bit. "Why are you all here?"

"To help you, of course. Why else?"


End file.
